Keyless latch



Jan- 28, 1969 A. s. MARTI ETAL, 3,423,972

KEYLESS LATCH Filed Sept. 12, 1966 gR/oSaLEPMnv-l l United States Patent 3,423,972 KEYLESS LATCH Antonio Soler Marti, Juan Soler Marti, Jose Soler and Mario Soler Marti, all Spain Marti, of Aldana 3, Barcelona,

Filed Sept. 12, 1966, Ser. No. 578,585 Claims priority, application Spain, May 11, 1966, 32 94 U.s. Cl. 70-305 Int. cl. Eosb 37/02, 37/04 Claims ABSTRACT OF THE DISCLOSURE Background of the invention There are numerous types of locks which include various knobs and apertures for keys Whose object it is to prevent unauthorized persons from opening the door which employs such a device. The use of a keyless type lock also prevents diiculties for the authorized user in that with a key-type latch he is liable to lose the key or troubled by having to carry it about With him.

Summary of invention A latch according to the present invention employs a single knob for operating the mechanism of the combination of the latch, and for opening the door when the mechanism of the combination has been properly operated. Another characteristic of this latch is that it prevents an unauthorized person from opening the door by means of a random effort, since before commencing to operate the mechanism to open the door, it is necessary for the knob to be positioned such that it is not possible to re-set the combination, accordingly, when the door is not opened, it is first necessary to re-set the combination.

A further feature of this latch is that it may be fitted in a recess in the edge of a door without having access to the latch from outside the door. The combination of the latch may be set by a disc situated in the edge of the door.

The latch is further characterized by the ability of the knob, with its mechanisms to be installed in a safe and easy manner without taking out the latch and leaving any of its securing means accessible from without. Further, it is not possible to open the door or change the combination even if the knob is removed.

By Way of example, an embodiment of the latch now described with reference to FIG. l which is an exploded view with various sections and lines of correspondence which link the elements of the latch and show the axes of rotation of various levers and shafts.

The groups of elements referred to above are:

(a) The knob group;

(b) The group operating the bolt, and

(c) The group corresponding to the mechanism of the combination to which the latch is fitted.

The knob group (a) includes a shaft 1 terminating in a button 2 which covers a circular piece 3 with a vertical face 4. A hollow cylinder 5 covers the shaft 1 and is rotatable relative to the shaft. A disc -6 is fixed on cylinder 5 and has indicia 7 marked at its periphery. Cylin- ICC der 5 terminates with a notched portion or projecting tooth with faces 8 having the same form and arrangement as the vertical faces 4 of the circular projecting piece 3. Also included in this group is a knob 9 rotatably movable about and covering cylinder 5 and button 2. Knob 9 is longitudinally slidable towards cylinder 5 until the recessed portion 10 meshes by means of its conveying faces 11 with the notched portion or projecting tooth 8 of the cylinder 5 or with the vertical faces 4 of the circular piece 3. This sliding movement causes knob 9 to engage with either the cylinder 5 or with the shaft 1.

The cylinder 5 rotates in an aperture in a plate 12 which has a bevelled edge 13 which includes an aperture 15 at a point 14 along its edge through which a small screw 16 protrudes into another aperture 17 in a plate y18 which is ixed to a surface of a door by screws 19 and which also has at its periphery a bevelled edge 20. The disc 12 has a neck with an external screw-thread 21 which is adapted to threadedly engage the internal screw-thread 22 of the disc 18 whereby the under surface of disc 12 and the upper surface of plate 18 -t together so that the two bevelled portions l13 and 20` form a truncated conical section. Screw 16 passes through apertures 15 and 17 and locks the disc 12 which covers the fixing screws 19 of the plate 18 thereby covering screws 19. This group being xed to the door independently of the fitting of the latch.

The screw 16 is a reference point for the indicia 7 and indicate the angular position of the disc 6 relative to its original position when the knob 9, through recessed portion 10, is meshed with the projecting tooth or notched portion 8 and thereby rotates the cylinder 5.

The operating group (b) which operates the bolt includes a disc 23 which has a cylindrical recess 24 to receive the end 25 of the cylinder 5 and a square recess 26 to engage a square terminal 27 of the shaft 1. Disc 23 also has an arm 28 With a slot 429 which receives a lug 30 of the plate 31j` connected to the bolt 32 which is slidably mounted by guide means 33 which is adapted to receive a suitable lug.

Plate 31 may be moved in a horizontal direction when its edge 34 is not engaged by stop 35 of the pivotally mounted angular lever 36. Plate 31 has an angulated groove 42 including an end portion 37 having an inclination of 45 with respect to the other end portion 41 and engages lug 38 of an angular plate 39 guided for vertical movement by grooves 40, and is adapted to have lug 38 engage slot portion 41 of the angulated groove 42.

The movements of the angular lever 36 and the plate 39 are governed by the combination group (c) which includes the combination mechanism for the latch which is described hereinbelow:

The combination group (c) includes a set of discs 43 each having a pawl 44, 45, 46. Each of the pawls is biased in a recess in its corresponding disc by the action of a small spring 47. The set of discs 43 has -a keyway 48 along its central aperture in which is adapted to engage a projecting piece 49 of the cylinder 5. For each angular position indicated by the indicia 7 on disc 6 with respect to reference 16, there is a pawl 44, 45, 46, or one of those not shown in the ligure engages one of the teeth 50. Another set of discs 52 each having sectors 51 adapted to rotate on a shaft (not shown) which passes through the central aperture 53. These discs have a curved groove 54 which limits their rotation in combination with a stop 55. The rotary movement of the discs is imparted by the pawls 44, 45, 46 and rotary movement in the opposite direction is prevented by a pawl 56, otherwise springs 57 housed in grooves 58 of a xed block 59 would tend to cause the wheel 51 to rotate until reaching its extreme counter-clockwise position.

Each set of discs 52,has a peripheral sector formed with meshing teeth 60 which mesh with the teeth 61 of a set of toothed wheels 62 which has an aligned radial groove 63 and excentric aperture 64. This set of Wheels 62 is rotatably mounted on the shaft 65. Shaft 65 is fitted on a block 66 which is slidably mounted along guide 67 engaging grooves therein. This movement of the block 66 moves the shaft 65 and Which in turn moves the discs 62 which may fail to mesh with the teeth 60 of the discs 51 of the set 52. The sliding movement of the block 66 is achieved by turning a button 68 situated in the edge of the lock and connected to an eccentric cam 69 which in turn pushes the pawl 70 of the lever 71. The extreme end 72 of lever 71 is fitted in the notch 73 of the plate 74. Accordingly, rotation of button 68 causes movement of discs 62. A spring 75 engages plate 74 to bias the teeth of wheels 62 to mesh with the teeth 60 of the discs 52.

The set of discs 43 also has a cam disc 76 with teeth 77, each tooth corresponds to one of the positions of the disc 6. In addition disc 76 has two other teeth, one of which, 78, has a notch 79 which is deeper than those of the other teeth and another tooth 80 which projects further than the other teeth.

The disc 6 has a series of positions 7 which when they are facing the reference screw 16 cause one of the teeth 77 to mesh with the step 81 of a lever 82,

A lever 82 can have two movements: a see-saw or tilting movement around the shaft (unnumbered) which traverses the slot 83 each time that a tooth 77 jumps the step 81 on the cylinder 5 turning in a clockwise direction, and a sliding movement along the length of slot 83. The slot 83 is larger than the diameter of the shaft which traverses it. This sliding movement is produced by the counter-clockwise rotation of the cylinder which causes the tooth 77 to push the step 81 of the lever 82 tangentially therewith. Springs 84 and 85 resist the see-saw or tilting movement and the sliding movement respectively ofthe lever 82.

The see-saw or tilting movement of the rod 82 takes place at each of the positions 7 of the disc 6 and causes that its socket 86 to slightly displace the sword-piece 87 whose circular pivot end 88 is fitted in the socket 86. When the bevelled edge 89 of the sword-piece 87 makes contact with the bevel 90 of the angular lever 36, the rotation of the angular lever rotates such that the stop 35 moves in the way of plate 31 to prevent movement thereof.

When disc 6 rotates to a new position, tooth 77 will abut step 81, the lever 82 will be raised to its highest position thus causing the bevel 89 to thrust against the bevel 90 to rotate the angular lever 36 against the biasing l action of spring 91 moves the stop 35 and frees the edge 34 so that the plate 31 and the bolt 32 may be operated thereafter.

On the further rotation of the disc 6, tooth 80 tilts the lever 82 to its lowest position to cause an arm 92 to come into contact with the arms 93 of the pawls 56 to separate them from the teeth 50 of the set of discs 52. In this position no pawl 46 faces the teeth 50, each of the discs of set 52, due to the action of the rat-tail springs 57 which are housed in a groove 58 of the block 59, return to their extreme counterclockwise position and their movement causes the Wheels, for example 62, to move, thereby the grooves 63 will not be aligned to form a single groove adapted to receive projection 93. The projection or rib 93 is fitted on the plate 39 in such a manner that if all the grooves 63 face the rib 93', and if the stop 35 does not impede the horizontal movement of edge 34, the plate 39 can descend, and permit the rib 93 to enter into the groove 63 and the lug 38 to descend into the portion 41 of the groove 42 in the plate 31 which can now be moved by the lug 30 housed in the groove 29 of the arm 28 on the disc 23 rotating when impelled by the shaft 1.

The operation of the latch is as follows:

When the lug 38 is in the portion 41 of the groove 42, the rib 93 engages the grooves 63, this position of the wheels 61 can be as certained by the coincidence of the eccentric apertures 64 which can be observed through an aperture in the covering 0f the latch.

The button 68 is then turned which causes the eccentric cam 69 to push the pawl 70 which raises the block 66 and the shaft 65 so that each of the set of wheels 61 ceases to mesh with each of the set of discs 52. When the knob 9 is given a small rotation from the first position with the notched portion or projecting tooth 8, and then turned in a clockwise direction until tooth overrides step 81 and causes the maximum descent of the lever 82 and thereby by means of the arm 92 it engages the arms 93 of the pawls 56 and the latter moving out of engagement with the teeth 50. In this position none of the pawls 46 are intermeshed with the teeth 50, the set of discs 52 rotate by way of the springs 57 which take the most extreme counter-clockwise position.

On the rotation of the knob to the first position of the combination, the point is reached when a tooth meshes with the step 81, while the coresponding pawl 46 engages with the teeth 50 of the first disc 95. Each time that the knob 9 is 4given a small rotation from the first position of the disc 6 a tooth will cause the disc 95 to advance. Thus if it is given three turns in the first position the rotation of the wheel 95 will correspond to three angular advances. It will be retained in this position by the corresponding pawl 56.

When the knob 9 is turned to each of the second, third, fourth and fifth positions, there is imparted to each of the corresponding discs of set 52 the rotation desired and determined by the number given to the knob in each one of the positions of the disc 6.

The rotation of the button 68 and thereby cam 69 pushes the pawl 70, pivots the cover 71, moving the plate 74, the block 66, the shaft 65, the latter having its notches 63 engaging the rib 93' mesh with the teeth 60 ofthe corresponding disc of the set 52. With the grooves 63 aligned when the set of discs 52 are rotated the same as when wheels 61 engage the discs 52, i.e. when the combination has been marked.

When the bolt is hidden in the case, the stop-piece 35 slides over the uppcr edge of the plate 31 only.

The knob is moved towards the interior until its recessed portion 10 meshes with the vertical faces 4, if it is rotated to the left, the shaft 1 by means of its square terminal projecting piece 27 causes the disc 23 to turn, and the arm 2S by means of its recess 29 pushes the lug 30 to the left to move 'bolt 32 to latch the door. The movement of edge 34 permits the movement of the stop 35, and the edge 96 pushes the lug 38 upward, the plate 39 being raised, the rib 93 emerges from between the grooves 63. However, it is not possible to open the door even though the correct combination has been performed because of the stop 35; it is necessary to turn the disc 6 to the position specially marked so that the deepest notch 79 causes the tilting of the lever 82 to move the sword-piece 87 and in turn the angular lever 36 to free the edge 34 of the stop 35 to bring about movement of bolt 32.

1f, on the contrary, once the bolt 32 has been displaced to lock the door, the knob 9 is pushed to couple it to the cylinder 5, and it is turned in a clockwise direction so that the notched portion or projecting tooth 8 causes the lever 82 to descend so that the transverse arm 92 may free the set of discs 52 from the Wheels 62. In so doing not all the notches 63 will face the rib 93', therefore the plate 39 will not be able to descend its lug 38 to permit it to follow the inclined edge 37 of groove 42, and thus it is not possible to move the plate 31 with its bolt to disengage the latch.

What we claim is:

1. A keyless latch of the type having a bolt comprismg, a case, a single knob mounted 1n said case, adapted for both longitudinal sliding Amovement and rotary movement, a pair of coaxial shafts including an inner shaft within an outer shaft, said knob having means for meshing with the inner shaft when the knob is in one longitudinal position, and also meshing with the exterior shaft when the knob is in another longitudinal position, the outer shaft connected to and operating a combination mechanism, and the inner shaft connected to and operating a mechanism for moving the bolt whereby the combination mechanism and the mechanism for moving the bolt are operated by rotating the knob when the knob is in the one longitudinal position or the other longitudinal position respectively.

`2. A keyless latch according to claim 1, wherein the combination mechanism includes a plurality of axially alined toothed wheels each having a radial groove and an o-center aperture, the radial grooves are `alined to form a single radial groove when the combination mechanism has been properly executed, a tirst plate having a rib adapted to descend into the single radial groove and having a lug which is adapted to be received in a recess in a second plate, the second plate including the bolt, whereby upon the descent of the rib into the single groove the lug engages the recess to position the plate for operating the bolt.

3. A keyless latch according to claim 2 wherein a rotatable disc with an arm extending therefrom is connected to an end of the inner shaft, a recess in the arm for receiving a lug mounted on the second plate whereby upon turning the inner shaft the rotation of the disc causes the second plate by the lug thereon to operate the bolt.

4. A keyless latch according to claim 2 wherein the apertures in each of theset of discs are in aligned relationship when the grooves are aligned, and a viewing aperture in the case aligned with the aligned aperatures in the disc so that one can ascertain whether the combination has been properly executed `by viewing through the aperture in the case.

5. A keyless latch according to claim 2 wherein the outer shaft operates a tilting lever, the lever pivotally connected to a sword-blade lever having a bevelled end portion, a pivotally mounted spring biased stop having a bevelled portion normally engaging the bevelled portion of the sword-blade lever whereby tilting of the lever by means of the sword-blade lever causes the stop to move out of engagement with the second plate and thereby operates the bolt.

References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 2,083,782 6/1937 Grubb 70-299 3,196,643 7/1965 Moss 70-133 1,346,080 7/1920 De Leeuw 70--311 1,752,824 4/1930 Watson 70-311 MARVIN A. CHAMPION, Primary Examiner.

ROBERT L. WOLFE, Assistant Examiner.

U.S. C1. X.R. -311, 313, 317 

